ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Second World War, an important factor propelling economic growth across a wide geographical spectrum has been the emergence of a relatively large number of new nations, brought about by decolonization leading to political independence of former colonies. Development economists familiar with the low-level equilibrium trap (LET) understand fully well the enormity of the task of achieving sustained high growth rates in poor countries. The chapter tracks the economic distance between nations over the period since 1913. The two principal groups showing considerable improvement in relative standing across the globe are: Western Europe on the one hand, and Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada on the other. The Chartbook for Economic Inequality has estimates of Gini ratios for household incomes across countries and over time. A number of authors wrote in early 2016 on inequality for the prestigious magazine Foreign Affairs.
